Thursday 30 June 2011

Silver dream machine

 ...well, not quite. I put it back together to see just how good the finish on the inside needed to be. Turns out it is good enough. I used a wire brush in the electric drill to get the paint off the inside, so it isn't anywhere near a mirror finish. You can see there's still the odd patch of paint to come off, and then the whole thing needs polishing to get the worst of the abrasion scratches and watermarks out (see bottom pic) ...and I have to make 4 new feet. And the shift and rails need lubing and the keytops cleaning. I scoured the spotty growths from the platen with dry wire wool. So now it is shiny, but paper still feeds OK. 

But none of that really matters. The important thing is, it looks pretty damn good so far!

(Click pics to supersize)

Underwood Portable typewriter restoration

7 comments:

  1. wow - looks totally futuristic! I'd like to see a video of this silver surfer...

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's eye-popping already. I have to say I feel satisfaction that I started this "silver surfer" trend!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Outstanding. What an improvement! I really like the overhead shot, too, with the Underwood cutouts on the spool covers. Nice job, Rob.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Really nice. Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Apart from the little colour specks, the machine looks pretty awesome to me. Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The word "gorgeous" fails to describe how fabulous that looks. I'm jealous!

    ReplyDelete